Fairy Tail

Friendships, unspeakable bonds and trusts are one of the major aspects of shounen series. This is especially true when one has been watching Naruto, One Piece and similar titles. Naruto is famous for chasing after Sasuke in the name of having strong bond with the later and Strawhat pirates trust each other with their lives.

In Fairy Tail, there’s this sense of strong, unbreakable friendship serve as a living force not only among Fairy Tail guild members but also seen in among other guild members too.

Come to think of it, I never really wrote anything about Fairy Tail. I might not be fully invested in the series, but still I have follow the anime until the end. That’s right – 175 episodes. All watched. It’s pure leisure.

Fairy Tail isn’t any different from other shounen titles. In my opinion, that’s a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a good thing because it feels familiar and I know it won’t go too far off the formulae. At the same time, it’s a bad thing because of the good thing (am I confusing you here?) and that makes it some sort of a clone. It makes it easy for skeptics to say “Oh, that’s just another shounen series. Good guys will win at the end.”

This post is written as part of a project organized by Kai. Gotta say, Kai’s invitation’s timing is just right because this is something I’ve been thinking about lately.

Compared to last year, I’ve less free time on hand, which also means less time for anime and other related hobbies. Okay, before I go any further into how I manage my time when it comes to anime and the likes, I shall roughly talk about my usually fixed schedule. I have a day job as software engineer, working only on weekdays, eight to five. After work, I will go for a quick jog or just work out on my stationary bike or do some strength exercises for about 30 minutes. When all that plus more is done, thanks to short commute time in my city, it will be about 7.30 to 8pm. As for weekends, I’ll go for a two-hour badminton session with colleagues on Saturday and doing absolutely nothing on Sunday. I need my rest. This is my usually fixed schedule.

A few weeks into anime summer season, I’m seeing my to-watch list just grows insanely. It’s a bit scary since I don’t have the luxury of time to be watching everything that’s currently on my list. Of course, I have my strategy. The ones I really like I’ll watch them on weekly basis. The ones I like enough to be following but not crazy enough about them, then maybe I’ll gather a few episodes before watching them. Maybe two, three episodes? Or maybe more. I’m like ten episodes behind Hanasaku Iroha, but fear not for I shall catch up soon. I just need to buy a bag of popcorn and then wait till the weekend arrives. I hope this weekend’s weather is cool. I don’t like to marathon a series under a hot, humid weather. Note to self: buy popcorn.

Soooo…Spring Anime 2011 season is coming to an end. How has it been for you? I picked up Moshidora and A Channel as planned here. Along with those two series, I picked up Hanasaku Iroha and Hidan no Aria as well. Just to let you know, I haven’t seen any of the latter two series’ episodes since the sixth episode – which is why there isn’t any Hanasaku Iroha post lately. I intend to continue with it, just thought I should gather a few more episodes first.

The other day, I was reading the Summer Anime 2011 list and have roughly decided what to follow. It has become a habit.